| GOULDSBORO — Thomas P.
Cloherty, 37, a special agent with the U.S. Fish &
Wildlife Service, was buried Tuesday in his boyhood
home of South Salem, N.Y.
Most recently a resident of
Gouldsboro, Cloherty was assigned to the law
enforcement division of the Craig Brook National
Fish Hatchery in East Orland at the time of his
death on Thursday, Dec. 8.
Cloherty was dressed in
jogging clothes and running shoes when his body was
discovered at 9:10 a.m. at the Schoodic Head parking
lot of the Schoodic Section of Acadia National Park
in Winter Harbor.
The National Park Service and
state police conducted a joint investigation into
Cloherty’s death. Results of a post-mortem
examination by the Office of the Chief Medical
Examiner in Augusta determined the cause of death as
“cardiac arrest due to cardiac disease.”
“It was pretty clear that he
died of a medical problem,” said National Park
Service District Ranger Ed Pontbriand, who
discovered Cloherty’s body while on routine patrol.
“There were no indications of suicide or foul play.
We were pretty sure he died of natural causes,
because he did have some health issues.”
Pontbriand said Cloherty was a
frequent visitor to the park and was well known to
rangers there.
“As a law enforcement officer
he was required to stay in shape, and he used to run
mini-marathons,” Pontbriand said. “He apparently
arrived here at about 7 a.m. and was halfway through
his run when he called his supervisor at about 8 and
said he was going to run another seven miles.
“I saw his vehicle in the
parking lot and thought ‘Tom’s around,’ and then I
saw someone laying against the rock about 50 feet
from his car, which was the only car in the lot. He
didn’t look right, and his color wasn’t right and he
was in an odd position. I checked his carotid pulse,
and he was dead.”
Tom King, facilities manager
at the Craig Brook National Fish Hatchery, remembers
Cloherty fondly.
“He was a great guy,” King
said. “Every time I saw him he was full of smiles
and energy.”
Cloherty leaves behind his
wife, Mary Catherine, and their four children:
Myles, Grace, Conan and Aidan. Contributions can be
made to the Thomas P. Cloherty Family Education Fund
in care of M&T Bank, 428 Evans St., Williamsville,
NY 14221.
Acadia National Park Chief
Ranger Dave Buccello said Cloherty’s death is the
third fatality within the park in 2005. One person
drowned and another fell to his death while hiking
earlier this year within the park’s boundaries on
Mount Desert Island.
There hadn’t been a death at
Schoodic Point in some years, Buccello said, not
since a couple drowned after being swept into deep
water by high surf. |
